


You Never Let Me Lie

by asimaiyat



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, M/M, Pre-Slash, Time Travel, almost hurt-comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 14:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6473317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asimaiyat/pseuds/asimaiyat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Len runs into a future version of Barry in 2033.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Never Let Me Lie

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little scene that I couldn't get out of my head. Title from "Blood Muscle Skin and Bone" by Brandi Carlile. Come cry about these losers with me at reversetrash.tumblr.com.

“I know this isn’t… the greatest time for you. I remember.” Barry looks grim when he says it. It _is_ Barry, even Len’s natural skepticism can’t deny that. He might be older – it is 2033, after all – but he’s definitely the same person.

“You mean for this me, or – never mind. Don’t need to give myself the headache.”

Barry laughs without quite smiling. “Yes. You know I can’t tell you much, but the you I know now is… doing better. I know that isn’t saying much, though.”

“No kidding,” Len says with a snort. He looks out over the city from the very edge of the rooftop, before he feels Barry’s surprisingly strong hand on his shoulder, exerting the slightest pressure to pull him back.

“I wanted to thank you.” It’s a little weird to look at him. Central City has changed, sure, but in the ways you’d expect a city to change. Barry has grown into himself in complicated ways, stronger but more humble, faster, but with a stillness to him that he never had before. The lines in his face aren’t many, but they’re deep. Len looks back down at the headlights racing past, the rain starting to fall.

“Don’t worry about it, Scarlet. Fighting off that… necromancy cult… was part of our mission. You helped us, too.”

“It’s been a while since you’ve called me that,” says Barry, a little sadly, maybe. “And no, not for that. For… damn, this is going to sound ridiculous. But for… back in your time. You did me a lot of good, in the long run.”

“I what?” says Len, blinking. “You’re going to have to show your work there.”

“You used to say I made you better at what you did, but you did the same for me, I think,” says Barry slowly. “I used to resent so much when you called me a kid – when anyone did, really – but I was just a kid. I didn’t understand how complicated everything is. And you made me think about it. And I had this… faith, in you, and it took you a while, but you rewarded it. Most people didn’t, over the years, but you did.”

Len takes a solid minute and a half to think that through. “From where I’m standing, it’s hard to see it working out that way.”

“Really?” Barry hasn’t really sought out eye contact until now, but the force of that bright gaze is if anything stronger than it was in Len’s present. He raises one bushy eyebrow. “Leonard… I know you feel like you’re on the verge of writing yourself off right now. But you know better than that. You know that everything you’ve done has been for the right reasons.”

“Right.” Len feels like he has to exert some amount of force to pull his eyes away from Barry’s, but he manages. “Because the right reasons are worth so much.”

“They are, though.” Now Barry’s reaching for his hand, his right hand, of course. Those long fingers are tightly intertwined with his before he can pull away. “You think I haven’t been lost like that? Tons of times. I’ve fucked up, not known what to do, pulled away from everyone because I thought all I’d do was make things worse.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Len asks. “Because it’s just making me wish you’d told me all that before it was too late for me.”

Barry laughs, and this time it sounds at least a little sincere. “It was already too late for you. I didn’t change you, Leonard. This is who you are. You’re just… running from it right now.”

“I guess you’re the expert on running.”

“I guess I am.” Barry smiles and ruffles his own hair distractedly, a habit that apparently hasn’t changed over the years. “You’re going to figure it out. I wish I could tell you more. Hell, I wish I could show you.” That smile, Christ. There’s more in it than Len could tease out in the fading light.

“Helpful, aren’t you?”

“Try me.” Barry’s face is open and straightforward, something unknown written in the lines that bracket his mouth. Unfamiliar skyscrapers reach new heights over the city Len knows by heart. He gives Barry’s hand a little squeeze and watches those eyes widen just a millimeter, giving all the lights of the city a run for their money.


End file.
